The Generals
by MistressMarvel
Summary: Miko, now trapped on the Decepticons' warship, The Nemesis, doesn't know which is worse: The inevitability that she may not survive her sudden, unexpected trip, or the slow realization that there are two sides to every war, and everything is colored in varying shades of grey.
1. The Setup

_Disclaimer: All characters presented are not mine_

* * *

_**"It's just an old board game I found in the attic." He said, "It's from the '80's I think. It was my dad's." He blew the dust off of the top. "It's some kind of war game."He took off the top and started to spread out the pieces while the others examined them.**_

_** "The pieces are a little cheap looking." She looked at him, "How many people play?"**_

_** The boy adjusted his glasses as he read the back of the box, "Two people play plus an arbiter."**_

_** "A what?"**_

* * *

This was one of the times where Miko regretted acting before thinking. She had never felt bad about it before; the bots had always come to her rescue and taken care of any mess she had accidentally created. But they couldn't help her now, not while she was in the clutches of the bucket headed leader of the Decepticons. She wasn't even sure they knew where she was. Rachet had been blissfully unaware that she'd slipped out even with all the noise she had made.

She regretted it now.

It had all been an accident—well, not really. She had purposefully went through the ground-bridge with the intent to follow the bots into what she was sure was going to be a jam packed fight with the Decipticreeps running with their tails between their legs in the end. But Miko hadn't gotten to see an awesome fight with Bulkhead smashing a con's face in; Ratchet had just been testing the limitations of their new bridge, picking a random set of coordinates and bridging there.

It just so happened, and here, Miko was sure, was where Karma reared its ugly head, that the Decepticons had bridged to those exact coordinates as well causing the excited Miko to run from the bots' base right smack dab onto the Nemesis. And right in the midst of a group of cons who seemed to be fixing loose wires in the walls of the ship. Miko wouldn't have been noticed if she hadn't of been shouting out in excitement as she ran through the bridge, causing the cons to find her and grab her before she could even think about running away.

Jack or Raf should have stopped her. . .if they had been there _to_ stop her.

Miko had watched from her position trapped in their metal claws as the ground-bridge portal evaporated and she was left stuck on the Decepticon's ship. The drones carried her roughly to what she thought was the bow—was that even the right word to use?—where Miko saw Megatron, Starscream, Shockwave, and Soundwave all looking at different odd computer screens. The drone carrying her stood off to the side and waited to be noticed. After a time, it seemed that the cons noticed her grunts and hisses of frustration from within the confines of the drone's claws and turned to face them expectantly.

She wished Bulkhead was here with her.

Megatron hadn't been too thrilled to know that the bots could somehow bridge onboard his ship, but at the prospect of now having one of their human pets, his mood did a 180. He had seized Miko up from the drone's hands and gave her tiny body a tight squeeze with two of his fingers which made Miko grunt in pain. He had laughed at her and then placed her into a clear container where he then poked a few large holes in the top and set her upon the consol grinning down at her.

She stuck her tongue out at him, but it only made him chuckle deeper before moving to direct his attention back to his second and third in command and his chief scientist while Miko was left to bang at her glass prison hoping it would fall to the floor below and shatter. This, she supposed, wasn't exactly a good idea because she might just die from the fall or the jagged pieces of glass jabbing her in various places if it did shatter. But it failed to fall and her banging went ignored by the giants in the room.

It wasn't exactly that much different than how she felt at the temporary base with the bots, especially with Ultra Magnus there. It seemed like there was no time for fun anymore. The autobot second in command was a giant stick in the mud, probably even more so than Ratchet, and most of their time was filled with trying to find the predacons and ridding them from existence.

Miko was ignored by most at the base, she'd be damned if they ignored her here.

She pounded harder on the glass, "Hey!" She shouted out at them, but the sound was muffled from behind the glass. Still they ignored her in favor of their chit chat. Annoyed and put out by their unawareness, Miko pressed her ear to the glass and tried to make out what they were saying.

"What do you intend to do with it?" Starscream asked.

Megatron huffed through his vents, "It would be priceless to have the Autobots watch as I crush their human pet right in front of them," he grinned viscously, "but that's not what I'll be doing—not right away, anyhow."

Starscream scoffed at his Master, "You're going to keep it?" His optics flickered to the insect in her glass prison, "It won't last the cycle." His optics narrowed, "We don't even know how to care for a fleshling creature."

"Housing an organic would consume much time and it would obviously need many things that would be difficult to obtain," Shockwave, the one with the one eye smack dab in the middle of his face, said stoically, his attention firmly on that of his leader, the buckethead himself.

Megatron frowned, "Soundwave will provide it with all that it will need for the time we have it—." He was interrupted by Soundwave, it appeared to Miko, but she couldn't make out if the communications officer had said something or not. He merely cocked his head to the side and his facial plate lit up with symbols unknown to her. "_Her_, Soundwave will provide the necessities for her."

Starscream scoffed, "First you start identifying with it, and then you'll address it by its name." He examined his metallic claws and clinked them together, "Next you'll actually want to keep—," he paused and looked at Soundwave with a sneer. "_her _permanently._" _

Megatron waved him off, "Addressing her by her proper title will help endear her to cooperate." He turned towards Miko who was still pressed up against the glass listening to them. He stomped over towards her, the rough, heavy footsteps causing her glass dome to shake. The Decepticon leader leaned down and grinned down at her with his red optics glaring through the glass, pinning her in place. "And you _will_ cooperate, girl, if you want to see your autobot friends again."

Miko sneered at him, unafraid of his threat, to which he chuckled.

The thundering steps of Shockwave coming closer startled Miko and caused her to brace herself as her glass prison shuddered, "It would be interesting to see if a tracking device could be placed within it." He leaned down to stare right into her, "Perhaps, if ever released, she could lead us to the Autobots once again."

Megatron cocked a metallic eyebrow and grinned maliciously, "Perhaps."

"I shall begin construction, My Lord." His red eye zeroed in on her, "Just in case."

Starscream moved to say something but stopped himself. Miko wasn't sure if he wanted to protest her stay or the implantation; she got the feeling that he just wanted to argue with Shockwave. Megatron turned towards his communications officer, "Take her away, Soundwave, until I have use of her again."

He thudded out of the room leaving his underlings in the room behind him. The communications officer silently moved over to Miko, ignoring Starscream who rolled his red optics at the human and at Shockwave who began typing away on a data pad, and picked up her glass container with the utmost care and began to carry her out of the room.

* * *

_**"The game is played like chess," he said while the others began to set up their pieces, "except that the pieces don't have a specific place." He adjusted his glasses, "They're placed randomly on the first three rows of your side of the board."**_

_** The girl sighed, "Why are the pieces bent awkwardly? Are they broken?"**_

_** "No," the young boy said, "They're so you can't tell what the rank is for that specific piece unless you pick them up. The arbiter, me, in this case, sees the ranks and decides the winner of any challenge based on whose ranks are higher." He smiled, "I can't tell you their ranks either."**_

_** The oldest boy nodded, "And what's the objective of the game?"**_

_** The youngest squinted as he read the tiny writing on the back, "To have your flag piece reach the other side of the board."**_

_** "But we don't know which one's the flag!" The girl blew a breath at her drooping bangs, "Is there even any strategy to this?"**_

_** "There's strategy to every game. The point," the youngest explained patiently. " is so that you don't just sacrifice any piece to win, **_**all **_**of your pieces are important."**_

* * *

Miko _really_ had to go to the bathroom. Her legs crossed as she hopped up and down awkwardly in her glass prison. She really, _really,_ had to go. But as much as she banged on the glass to try and catch the attention of Soundwave, he just wouldn't pay any mind to her. He hadn't even looked over towards her as she made a fuss inside her glass prison.

"C'mon, man!" She yelled at him through the glass no matter how muffled it was. "I have to pee!" She hopped up and down in discomfort and groaned as loud as she could. Finally, the silent communications officer turned to her. The black of his faceplate reflecting her discomfort.

It then lit up with a picture of her body and showing various pieces of information that she could not decipher. There were no English or Japanese symbols that she could recognize. It must have been Cybertronian.

"I need to pee!" She hollered at him while giving her glass cage a tap with her knuckles; she doubted that he heard such a small, insignificant noise. Miko watched as the image of her body flashed again before her pelvis region lit up on the screen of his face with more Cybertronian appearing alongside it.

Soundwave tilted his helm and studied her before nodding and moving to lift the glass cap off her prison. His long digits picked her up by the scruff of her shirt, and he dangled her from his grip, twenty feet off the ground, and carried her out of the door. Miko kicked at the air in frustration before twisting her legs again. Her bladder pounded in time with her rapid heartbeat letting her know it was not amused by the wait.

The communications officer carried her down hallway after hallway before coming to a closed door which he opened by pressing a long digit against a panel to Miko's right. Two sliding panels came apart at the seam down the middle and retracted into the walls of the ship. Inside, Miko's eyes widened to find an array of weird instruments and odd do hickeys that were just _begging_ to be touched.

"Soundwave, what are you doing in here? Come for a maintenance check up?" Came a voice from the side; Soundwave's body was in the way, so she couldn't see who it was. But the voice was unmistakable—this was Doc Knock's territory. "I'm a little busy with other matters to do anything for you at the moment."

Miko strained to look up at Soundwave's face plate so as to get some inclination as to what he was _saying_ to the Doc, but the glare from the lights above him made her vision blurry.

"You want me to _what?_!" She heard Knockout snarl, "To take it to relieve itself?" He gave a strangled gasp that made him sound like a girl (much to Miko's amusement). "That is _disgusting_! Why would I—."

_"Spare me the dramatics, Knockout."_ Came the voice of Megatron, but, much to her confusion, Miko couldn't see the larger con anywhere. She looked around as much as she could from her position in Soundwave's grasp before giving up. A sudden jolt of motion and she was being dangled above Knockout's metal hands cupped underneath Soundwave's extended digits. Soundwave released his grasp and she landed on Knockout's cupped hands with a thud.

"Ugh, it better not leak on my interior," The Doc grimaced and held her out away from his body as if she were riddled with diseases and other unknown pathogens that might contaminate him. "This is just the most—I can't even _believe_ that—just open a ground bridge and wait for my comm.!"

Miko felt her body lurch as Knockout shifted into his vehicle mode around her before she was finally settled in the seat with the belt jetting out to lock her in place. The swirls of green and blue appeared that signified the opening of a groundbridge, and then Knockout was off, jetting into the stream of colors with a roar of his engine.

They manifested in the middle of nowhere, right smack dab in the middle of a desert where Miko couldn't even seem to find a road nearby. She unbuckled quickly to get a better look around.

"Dude, there's like nothing here," she said, "How am I supposed to _go_?"

She felt Knockout rock on his suspensions before he shuddered, "Look, I don't care how you skin jobs do it, but just go and make it quick." His engine rumbled, "This sand is chaffing my undercarriage." Miko began to get out of the car with a huff towards her captor. "And don't think about running off," he grounded out, "there's no human city for at least a hundred miles." His voice was smug and the grill of his vehicle mode made it seem as if he were smirking at her. "You'd die of dehydration and the heat before you would even get close."

Her feet planted unsteadily on the loose sand, "And just _where_ am I gonna do the deed? Right here in front of you?"

The car shuddered again, "_Disgusting_!" His engine gave a loud roar, "Just, just go behind that rock. Don't go too far, either; I've got scanners monitoring your movements."

Miko rolled her eyes, and in a display of displeasure kick sand at the rumbling vehicle before turning to go behind the large boulder a few feet away. Knockout growled and shook, trying to remove the tiny particles of crushed rock from himself. _Humans were disgusting_.

Starscream stood before his leader in front of the consoles that ran the ship, examining his metal claws while Soundwave typed away rapidly at the controls. Shockwave had since left for his lab simultaneously working on cloning more predacons and devising a microchip—should it be used—for the human.

"Where is it, Soundwave?" He asked without bothering to raise his optics from his claws. He glanced up to find the communications officer staring silently at him with his face plate blank. He rolled his red optics, "The human, where is the human?"

Soundwave's face plate lit up and a set of coordinates were displayed their ship's doctor as the human's chaperone. The human's vitals were presented as well as a video clip. The human girl was in the med bay with Knockout obviously driving the good doctor outside his processor. He turned towards his Master.

"Master, I don't mean to question your wisdom, but what do you intend to do with the Autobot's pet?" Starscream watched his Lord's facial plates shift as Megatron looked down at him, moving his attention from the computer screens to his second.

"I do not know as of yet what I will do," he rumbled quietly to his second. "I had intended to destroy her via a live feed to this world; an example to show to the indigenous population _and _the Autobots, but I think I have a different course of action is settling in my processor."

Starscream shifted, "A different course?" He echoed, "And what, pray tell, is this plan of yours, Mighty Megatron?"

Megatron narrowed his optics, "I do not answer to you, Starscream." He turned back to the screen before him that displayed earth and all its land masses and oceans with readings coming from each. Starscream wilted from the reprimand and headed out of the room and towards the med bay. Knockout would be better company and would help soothe his bruised ego.

* * *

_**"Should we have a set of house rules?" The girl asked with a smile plastered across her face. Her opponent arched an eyebrow while the arbiter adjusted his glasses again. **_

_** "Well, that could be fun," the youngest said. "Just not too many or it'll ruin the game. Nothing that contradicts the original rules either." He pulled out a notebook from his backpack and a pen. On the top of a clean page he wrote: **__**House Rules:**_

* * *

Starscream leaned against the doorway and watched as Knockout tried—and failed—to tune out the gibberish that was coming out of the human's mouth. The human was spouting out questions about the tools that transformed from Knockout's servos and then the other various tools surrounding him.

"But what are they all for? What do they do?" The human stood on the tips of her feet and tried to lean over to watch Knockout work. It was odd; she should be more reserved or even angry, but the human child appeared more curious than anything.

"Would you just shut up and leave me alone." Starscream watched with sadistic glee at the good doctor's expense as Knockout shooed the pest away, but, like a starving scraplet, she came back again.

"Well, would you at least tell me why you're laying them out?" She hopped up and down, "You about to do an experiment? Can I watch?"

Knockout smirked, "How do you know I'm not about to do an experiment on _you_?" He groaned, "Just, go sit over there and wait until Soundwave comes and gets you—whenever that will be." Knockout continued to fiddle with his equipment before Starscream cleared his intakes, finding he had had enough of not being the center of attention. "Honestly, it's _him_ that's supposed to take care of you, not me."

"I thought you'd be up to your servos in patch jobs for the drones," Starscream said as he strutted into the medbay, his own servos clasped behind his back. "Yet it seems you have an abundance of free time."

The red mech scoffed, "Please, I've already seen a few dozen drones already with the skinjob hovering over and exclaiming how 'cool' it was." He rotated his shoulders, "I sent the rest back to their quarters—they'll come back in a joor or two." He placed a servo on his hip and smiled, "I think the human made them a bit nervous anyway."

"Still here and still bored," the human exclaimed to them while tapping her foot against the metal of the table. She was an annoying little pest.

Starscream sneered, "Shouldn't it be locked up? Or better yet in the brig?" He examined his claws, "Isn't that where _all_ of our prisoners go?"

Knockout turned away from the seeker and back to his tools, "Brigs' too big and the skin-job's usually locked up, but I figured it couldn't get far from the table." He narrowed his optics, "No point in keeping it in the jar if she's just going to have to be let out to," he shuddered, "_relieve_ herself among other things."

"The human should be fortunate that we're not interrogating her on the whereabouts of the Autobot's new base seeing as how the Harbinger was exhausted of all its resources upon examination." Starscream peered down at her, pinning Miko in place with deadly optics.

Miko turned her nose up at him, "I'm not afraid of you cons, and even if you did try to interrogate me, I wouldn't tell you guys anything." She kicked at one of the loose cogs that were lying about on the table. The cog bounced around before falling off the table, clattering to the floor.

"Worry not, _human,_" Starscream bared his clenched derma at her in a fierce sneer. "If Megatron allows for the planting of a microchip, then we won't need for you to tell us anything." He let out a laugh that made Miko wrinkle her nose, "You'll lead us to your friends whether you wish for it or not."

"And if he _doesn't_ want the microchip in me?" She placed her tiny hands on her hips, "What then, creepy?"

Before Starscream could respond in kind, Knockout beat him to the punch. His hand transformed into a spinning saw and he smiled devilshly, "Well, I've already dissected one human, another should prove useful." The saw spun rapidly, "Maybe even hook up your brain to a drone's processor and see if your puny mind can work the shell."

Miko, with all the bravado she claimed to have, felt fear creep up and clench at her heart, making it work all the faster. She couldn't even manage a sneer.

Miko was afraid...

Where was Bulkhead?

* * *

_**"House rule number one," the girl began. "If you lose a challenge, your piece closest to the opposite side moves back two spaces."**_

* * *

_MM: First Fanfic for my newest obsession. Let me know how it is, please. :)_


	2. The Pieces

_Disclaimer: All of the characters belong to Hasbro._

* * *

_**"House rule number two," the oldest boy said while still placing his pieces on his side of the board, "Once per game you can swap one of your pieces with another of your own."**_

_** "Yeah, but we don't know which is which," the girl said, "Why would it matter?"**_

_** The Arbiter shrugged, "Chance?"**_

* * *

—_ripped his spark clean out of his chest—_

—_could barely see with all the— _

_Hush, all of you hu—_

She heard whispers. They were faint and she could hardly make out the words, but they were there. Like white noise in the background of her ever fading away dream. She began to see faces brought up by her subconscious—they were of her family— and they, too, whispered to her with the exact words that were being said around her. Miko stirred in her sleep, trying, and failing, to return to the bliss of the unconscious world.

—_told you it would—_

_You speak so loudly that it—_

_Hush, hush—_

Miko wanted to tell them to shut up, to go away and leave her in peace, but they persisted in their conversation—whoever they were. She could make out no distinguishable voice among them. In fact, they all sounded the same. Their voiced melted together into an indistinguishable tone of white noise where she could only grab bits of their conversation. Her brow furrowed as she tried to fall back to sleep.

She dared not open her eyes.

_Will it know? Could it place—_

_No, no, it could not. It is human. _

—_ask the Alpha?_

Their voices drifted off and melded with the ship's engines—a low hum in the background of her mind as she drifted back into a deeper sleep. In the morning, she would only remember the vague sound of white noise.

Miko paced around in a tight circle along the confines of her glass prison. She was bored. And she was hungry. She hadn't eaten anything since yesterday at lunch. Her stomach gurgled with want causing Miko to groan and place her forehead against the glass of her prison. The odd feeling of déjà vu came as she recalled her first visit to Cybertron in a container just like this—maybe not as crude, but similar.

She beat her fists on the glass trying to gain the attention of anyone in the control room. The drones next to her tilted their heads at her in confusion before staring at one another intently; they didn't say a word to each other, though. Soundwave was farther down typing away at a monitor while Starscream hovered over him. Megatron stood in the center with Shockwave; they were discussing something but she couldn't hear what it was about.

Her stomach rumbled louder and the sound seemed to echo in her small prison. Annoyed, she pounded on the glass harder. One of the drones looked over at her again, his visor glinted. He came a little closer to her.

"Dude," she said sourly, "I'm starving." Her stomach echoed in affirmation.

The drone tilted its head, glanced up to look at the other, before looking back down at her again. Miko thought he looked confused and was about to expand on her demands when he spoke. Soft and soothingly, which surprised her greatly, were the words that came from an invisible mouth.

"You require nourishment," he stated. His red visor gleamed and locked onto her wide eyes. Miko nodded and scowled at him.

"Yeah, dude, haven't eaten since, like, yesterday." The young girl clutched at her stomach and made a face.

The drone's visor lit up brightly in comprehension. He turned, met the silent stare of the other drone, and then moved over to where Soundwave silently stood with Starscream hovering just a hair's width away. Miko pressed her ear against the glass but she couldn't make out what they were saying. Starscream turned, sneering at the drone while Soundwave listened carefully before nodding. The drone then excused himself and then began walking back, his footsteps thudding lightly against the floor of the ship.

"So what's the verdict, dude? You gonna feed me or am I just gonna have to complain about the service around here? Didn't know Lord Bucket Head wasn't the nest host around." Miko's foot tapped repeatedly on the floor of her prison.

The drone said nothing as he stopped in front of her, twisted off the cap to the cylinder she was in, and picked her up with the tips of his fingers. She felt the familiar lurch as his body shifted in on itself, transforming into a car. Miko found herself in the passenger seat with a seatbelt already around her chest. A ground bridge opened and they drove through it quickly.

On the other side of the psychedelic swirl of color were rows upon rows of trees, all perfectly spaced from the other in what seemed like military formation. An orchard. Not exactly what she had in mind; she was really craving some fast food, but she was too hungry to be picky now. The drone came to a stop and let her out before transforming again.

Miko tried to scramble up the first tree she could find, but there were no low hanging branches for her to grip and pull herself up with.

"Yo, Con, give me a lift," she said to the drone, "Can't reach the apples." The drone placed a servo down and she hopped on shaking a bit when he lifted her up towards the branches. Miko began picking at the ones closest to her, holding out her shirt and letting them rest there. "So you gotta name, con?"

The drone's visor flashed as he regarded the small human in his servo. "No," he answered, "I do not have a designation."

One of the apples she had been reaching for slipped from her grip and tumbled down to the grass below. "You don't have a name? That's crazy." She stared at him with wide eyes, "What do your friends call you?"

The drone tilted his head regarding her quietly, "I do not have friends."

"But. . .but the other guys, the other drones," her voice was small and Miko felt pity clutch at her. "Aren't the other drones your friends?" She didn't want to feel bad for this no name drone; he was the bad guy, the shit head who shot at her friends, her _family_, but it was so pathetic, so _sad_, that she couldn't help but feel sorry for the cannon fodder that he was. "How do you tell one guy you know from the other?"

The drone's vents puffed out a loud ventilation of air, as if he were sighing. "We don't, we can't, so we don't bother to try. I talk to those around me, and then the next cycle, I start over again."

Miko bit into an apple, munching it in thought. "Well, what do _you_ call yourself?"

"I don't," he answered solemnly. "We need to return soon." He glanced up at the darkening sky.

Miko shrugged, putting it out of her mind, and reached to pull a few more apples from the branches and bundling them into her shirt. "What about water? I have to drink too, you know."

"Officer Soundwave is procuring other provisions for you." The drone shifted into his vehicle mode, "I was merely instructed to sate the hunger you had now."

As they waited for the ground bridge to open, Miko chomped at one of the few green apples she had found. She liked the sour taste. "So there are _no_ drones with names? None? Zilch? Nada?"

The drone's vents hitched for a moment and he waited a while before answering. "No, they have no designations. We are all the same." His engine rumbled when the ground bridge came and he started off into the swirl of color where the Nemesis was waiting.

That night, as she drifted off to sleep to the hum of the Nemesis' engines, Miko heard voices. Hushed and whispered, they entered her almost unconscious thoughts. Her brow furrowed as the voices drifted around her.

_The Alpha said that we shouldn't converse with it. It asks too many—_

_ —what if—can hear us—_

_ —talks too much—_

The voices faded in and out, so Miko could only catch bits and pieces of the hushed conversation that interrupted her sleep. Slowly, her eyes cracked open and adjusted to the dull lights that were planted along the ceiling. She could make out the blurred figures of drones through her squinted eyes; they stood around her cylindrical prison, which was placed somewhere randomly at the end of day. Miko figured they wanted to disorient her; they didn't want her getting too comfortable.

Today she was left in the bridge—not the bow as she had previously thought—and there were three, no four, drones standing around not too far from her. She stayed quiet as she watched them. There was no way to tell one from the other. All had identical markings, the same color scheme, only their voices differed. But none were the voice of the drone that had cared for her earlier. They spoke softly, one shhing the other if they got too loud.

_Starscream's armada drones—obsolete—?_

_ —soon we will be—_

_ Take to—Autobots? _

They didn't seem to realize she was there, but just as she was about to open her eyes wider and sit up to demand what they were talking about, they filed out of the room. Miko stared at where they had stood huddled around each other whispering. She gave a yawn, her eyes began to droop, and all the energy she had when she had woken up to their voices drained away. Miko laid her head back down on the hard metal of the bottom of her cylindrical home and closed her eyes—she was asleep within minutes.

"Starscream," Megatron called as he brought his arms to cross behind him, "I want the human girl to reside with you for awhile."

The Second in Command sputtered, "What? M-me?"

His lord growled, engines humming loudly in the confined space of the bridge. "Yes. I have need of Soundwave. He cannot spend his time now watching a pathetic fleshling; you will watch her in his stead until I see fit to remove her from your care."

Starscream grimaced, "but surely Knockout—."

"That medic is currently assisting Shockwave with the cloning procedure," Megatron thundered forward towards the flighty seeker. "Take her to your quarters and keep her there. Have a drone take her planet side if there is something she requires that is not aboard this ship."

"But—."

"Dismissed," Megatron growled and then turned away from him to look at the screen Soundwave was typing at.

Starscream bowed, "Yes, Master."

* * *

"_**Ladies first," the young girl said, moving an unknown piece to the square block in front of it. "I really wish we could know what these pieces were."**_

_** Her opponent shrugged, "It's no big deal, but I'm curious," he turned to the arbiter, "what's the ranking system?"**_

_** "Yeah! What beats what?"**_

_** The arbiter looked at the box's directions that were placed on the back, "Well, the five star general is the highest commanding piece. It beats any lower ranking officer, the private, and the flag."**_

* * *

The seeker grumbled as he carried the tube with their human prisoner inside to his quarters where he wanted to just smash her against the wall. The human, Miko, chattered on and on about her _amazing _Autobot friends—Bulkhead came up the most—and how awesome they were that Starscream wanted to rip her out of that tube, place the ship a hair's width away from the planet's atmosphere, and then watch her suffocate from the lack of oxygen that her pathetic human body needed to sustain itself.

"So I was talking to this drone," the human's voice cut through his thoughts, "and he said that they don't have names."

Starscream rolled his optics, "Why would he have a name, he's a drone."

"But, how do you tell them apart? How do they know who's on what shift? Do they even have shifts? Do they get any free time? What do they do on their—?"

He snarled, "Enough. They're drones. They room in groups, they show up to their placements, and they do their work. How should I know what they do in their free time?" He slammed the container onto his desk and Miko lost her footing at the sudden force.

"But how do they _know_ what they're supposed to do?"

Starscream's vents cycled out a burst of air loudly, "They are programmed to do the essentials, all of them. It doesn't matter who shows up for what position because they can do it all. That's the way they are programmed."

Miko snorted, "They can do everything _but_ aim." She chuckled at the thought.

Starscream's optics narrowed and shifted towards her, "What an assumption."

"It's not an assumption if it's the truth," she turned her nose up haughtily at him, "I don't think I've ever seen them hit a Bot at all. They suck, maybe take them for a little target practice?"

Starscream watched her for a moment before walking over to his own consol and tapping away at keys that Miko was sure Raf would recognize. After a few moments he pulled up an image of a drone. "These are the schematics for the drones that Shockwave built. No, no, don't bother trying to decipher what's on the screen; I know you can't read Cybertronian." He smiled, barring shiny denta at her, "Each drone is programmed the same with pinpoint accuracy as well as problem solving skills and the basics for Cybertronian intelligence and so on."

"They were manufactured. . ." Her voice was soft.

He scoffed, "Yes, they _are_ drones. And these drones can hit a moving target, because of their programming thanks to the _incredible Shockwave_, up to a hundred yards away without even, as humans say, batting an optic." He clicked the screen off and placed a clawed servo to his face plates giving the human a wry smile, "They are very capable. Which is why they are here."

"But they don't hit anything," Miko said with her arms crossed over her chest. "They never hit anything." She raised an eyebrow and cocked out a hip in a universal feminine gesture that even he, who hadn't been around many femmes before, knew well.

Starscream cycled his vents in frustration and narrowed his red optics at her, "I have work to do, so try not to bother me with your human inquiries." He sat at his computer and began to type again, pulling up incomprehensible Cybertronian texts that bored Miko to tears.

"What are you working on?"

The seeker ignored her in favor of his screen, long claws typing too fast for Miko to keep up. His long digits tapping and Miko found that it almost resembled a beat.

"C'mon, dude, at least tell me a bit of what you're doing." She pressed her hands against the glass as well as her face, making it squished and funny looking. "I'm so bored."

"Your puny, insignificant mind couldn't grasp the equations that I'm working on." His long claws didn't pause for an instant.

Miko rolled her eyes, "I thought Cyclops was the smart guy. Maybe Doc Knock, but you can never be too sure with doctors." She sneered at him, "You're a battle guy, not a smarts guy."

Starscream scoffed and shot her a look, "Are you suggesting that _I_ am not capable of calculating simple equations that could possibly save—." And then he stopped, staring at her with his optics wide before he picked up the cylinder and placed it on a high shelf where she could see just about everything in the room accept him.

He didn't answer anymore questions after that, and no amount of goading or name calling would change that.

Soundwave tapped silently on the keypad in front of him. His digits moved rapidly but they landed silently on the large keys below. Behind him Shockwave stood menacingly, overseeing the coordinates that held the rest of his cloned brood. But the spy was not intimidated by the scientist.

"By the beginning of the next cycle we should inform Starscream of this set so that he may lead a set of mining drones to excavate the remains." Shockwave's voice was monotonous and not giving way to any emotion he may have felt for Starscream or drones or not being able to oversee the digging.

But Soundwave knew. He always knew because nothing was a secret aboard the Nemesis. Files upon files of data came to him each cycle and he shifted through them all. What was typed on every consol, what was said in every hall, every action and reaction, they were all caught on data files and streamed through Soundwave's processor where he sifted through them sorting them by importance. There was never a day where something relevant was not being done or something mutinous was not being said.

And Soundwave caught it all. He saw and heard everything making him both an adversary and an enemy to many aboard the warship. His consol beeped signaling that Starscream was working on something again. The seeker had had the same routine for several cycles now. Always working away at his personal consol while never actually working on anything. Soundwave suspected he was using a virus to get around any walls the spy may have put up because of sensitive information, but without actually going through a maintenance scan to check, Soundwave would never know and therefore, could not report him.

"I am curious as to how much of my planet side laboratory you are monitoring, Soundwave." Shockwave's tone never wavered. There was no inflection of curiosity, no underlying hint at hostility, only the same leveled tone that was always used. But Soundwave knew better.

His digits sprinted across the keypad and he pulled up the site of Shockwave's laboratory where he would soon finish the cloning process. Every angle of the area was covered. There were no hiding spots, no crevices that he did not reach. Everything was in full view for evaluation from both himself and his lord.

Shockwave hummed, "I am grateful that you are overseeing the security, as is your duty, Soundwave. I would hate for one of the creatures to be let loose or for a mass destruction from one party or another." Starscream was not the only paranoid Decepticon on board the Nemesis. Though he didn't show it in the same means as the Second in Command, Shockwave was suspicious of many, including Soundwave himself.

The spy merely inclined his helm at the scientist before turning back to his work. He would spend hours staring at this monitor sorting through all the data while still searching for the other predacon remains. The consol beeped again. Soundwave pushed a button on the keypad and the information from Starscream's consol came up.

The seeker was busy looking through old Iacon records that dated back long before the war. Soundwave gave it the briefest of his attention before clicking it closed. He would not bother with the seeker tonight.

Shockwave still stood behind him, and Soundwave wondered if he expected something. But the scientist said nothing, merely kept his optic on the monitor for a few moments longer before leaving without another word. With him gone, Soundwave began streaming data files faster. Drone conversations which ranged from topics of work to the Autobot faction to Cybertron and then to their new arrival, the human girl, Miko.

A bit of the data was fuzzed and seemed to be encrypted with a virus allowing for a pieces of time to be skipped over rather than run through this processor.

He would have to run a maintenance scan after all. Silently one of his tentacles came out, his data input feelers, and connected with the computer at its base. Pulses of energy went through and the scan began.

It wouldn't be until well into the next cycle before it finished leaving Soundwave with plenty of free time. Not knowing what else to do, he pulled up Starscream's console data and began to stream it as well, looking through all of the searched data and piecing them together.

* * *

_**"Okay, my move," the boy said while moving a piece on the far right up one block. **_

_** The girl bit her lip, "So the five star generals beat the lower generals and everything else but the spy, the four star general same thing, anything lower than him minus the spy, and same down through the ranks. But what I don't get is, why does the Private, the lowest rank, beat the spy which beats everything but the Private?"**_

_** The arbiter shrugged, "I don't know. They have to have something beat the spy."**_

_** The oldest boy nodded, "Yeah, but I think it's more about the number of pieces."**_

_** The girl smiled as she placed her next piece, "Maybe because the Private is the only one who can catch the spy."**_

_** "I think you're taking this a little too literally," said the arbiter. The girl only smiled wider.**_

* * *

_I was asked what the game was. The game is called: Game of Generals, better known as GG or The Generals. It's an old 80s game. I was going to call the fic Game of Generals but it sounded, to me at least, a little too much like Game of Thrones (which I love) and so I went with The Generals._

_Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I look forward to hearing from you all. And many thanks for the supporters already. I'm glad people are actually liking this as much as I am._

_MM_


	3. Moving the Pieces

_Disclaimer: I own nadda_

* * *

"_**I don't know whether to challenge him or not," the girl said while studying the board with a frown. "I mean, what if that's my flag and his piece is a general or something?" She scratched at her head.**_

_** "Choose your confrontations wisely, then," the arbiter said with a smile. "A good general always considers every option before attack."**_

* * *

Megatron stood at the center of the Nemesis' bridge surveying the drones as they worked in unison on various consoles. Soundwave was in front of him on one of the larger bridge computers working through a maintenance scan as he had been for most of the night cycle and since the beginning of this one. Megatron shifted his shoulders, the spiked armor rising and then falling back into place.

"Soundwave," he rumbled, "patch me in to Agent Fowler's direct communication line." The communications officer nodded and began to create a direct line of contact to the human, Fowler. There was a pause before the human answered.

"Fowler," he said

"Agent Fowler," Megatron began, "I find myself in possession of something of yours."

The human sounded puzzled, "Something of mine?" There was some rustling on the end, as if the human was shuffling through papers—reports most likely—searching for anything of importance that could have gone missing. "Listen, con, I don't know what you're going on about, but I don't mind you ratting yourself out. Now just tell me what you took, and I'll be happy to let Optimus deal with it."

"I should have been clearer, Agent Fowler. I have in my possession _someone_ of importance to you and your pathetic Autobot companions." The Decepticon Lord laced his metal digits together behind his back. "I'm sure you are familiar with—."

Fowler's voice interrupted him, ringing out of the ship's comm. loudly, "Miko! You—you have Miko! Where—how did you cons get—." There was a clatter of noise, a human curse, and then the slamming of a door. Megatron was tempted to close off the communications then and there, leave them teasing for more information, but as he was about to direct Soundwave to do so, another voice came on over the line.

"Megatron," the low rumblings of Optimus came through and the Warlord grinned savagely. "I am under the assumption that you have Miko aboard your vessel." The Prime paused, "Is she unharmed?"

"For the time being, Optimus." And it was important that she stat that way; she would be a valuable asset in the cycles to come. "At the moment she is well taken care of, but should my mood sway, she can be easily eradicated."

Optimus paused for a moment before commenting, "I will need proof that she is alive and unharmed." Megatron could vaguely hear the voices of the others in the background. He pictured them all huddled around their Prime in desperation and he laughed.

"There is nothing that I need to prove to you, Optimus." Megatron stretched his neck, popping lines that were tense and under the strain of his heavy armor. He needed to see Knockout for a maintenance check soon. It had been awhile since his last one.

There was a sigh, "What is it that you desire, Megatron?" The Prime sounded defeated.

And Megatron's smile widened, "There is nothing I desire from you, Optimus. There is nothing you have that I need or want." The Prime went to object, but Megatron didn't let him get a word in. "But I shall keep your offer in mind, Prime." And then he motioned for Soundwave to cease the communication with the wave of his servo, and the line was dead.

There was a thudding that came to a halt beside his frame. "My Lord," Knockout began as he materialized beside his master, "Why not demand one of the many relics they have in their possession, or, better yet, why not just force them into submission?" The doctor placed a servo on his and smirked up at his lord, "I mean the Autobots would do anything for their little pets."

Megatron chuckled, "I do not need to make petty bargains to win this war, Knockout. I already have won." He made his way over to one of the consoles and tapped at the key pad. A security feed of Shockwave and his cloning procedures came up—nothing that was new to Knockout, he had been working with the weird science officer for a few cycles now. "When my pets are released upon this planet, then true victory will be at hand."

"And the skin bag, My Lord? What of her?"

Megatron peered at the doctor before looking back at the various consoles that lit up around him. Energon levels were high, the ship's energy field was cloaked, all the engines were running smoothly, and the drones' work performance was as it should be. His ship, under his command, was operating at full capacity while Optimus struggled to even feed his troops.

"She will be of some use," he rumbled. "And when she is of _no_ use, then she will be dealt with."

Knockout smirked, "I'm pretty sure I can think of a few experiments that could put her tiny mind to use." The doctor glanced around the Bridge of the Nemesis, "I'm sure I can find a drone body lying around, hook up a few network cables, and then attach a psychic patch directly to the human's brain and then—."

"While I appreciate your enthusiasm, Knockout," Megatron growled, "I will be the one to deal with the human. I wish to make an example of her."

Soundwave listened intently, never missing a word that escaped from the mouths of the doctor and of his Lord. As he processed their conversation, images flashed through his processor; Starscream's searches, all laid out bare for Soundwave to speculate over, were running through his processor at a fast pace, but nothing was missed by the spy. While there was nothing particularly suspicious about the data searches, Soundwave knew that the seeker was up to something. The data bursts he was receiving with all the information the seeker had scanned for came through and caused Soundwave to cock his head in contemplation.

How curious. . .

0o0o0o0o

Miko stood with her face pressed against the glass of her prison staring at Starscream. "Tell me something interesting," she said to him, "since you're so smart," she added.

The Second in Command scoffed and rolled his optics, "I know many interesting things on many subjects you couldn't possibly comprehend with that pathetic human mind of yours; it doesn't hold much data compared to my own and has about a tenth of the function."

Miko smirked and placed a hand on her hips, "Then tell me something about humans then, since you're so smart."

"There is _nothing_ interesting about humans," he said. The Second in Command of the Decepticon army was tinkering with a gadget that seemed to spark and sizzle every few moments causing the seeker to curse in his native tongue and go back to severing wires and reattaching gears. All things that were interesting to watch even though she couldn't understand what he was doing. Miko often enjoyed watching Ratchet work on the various items around the new Autobot base, though the doctor didn't really enjoy her enthusiasm to _touch_ the things he was working on. More often than not she was shooed from his presence towards the small TV they had in the back.

"I could tell you something cool about humans," she began with a smug look plastered upon her face. Starscream glanced at her while his long digits continued to flick through the device. He raised a metal eyebrow and she mirrored it.

"I doubt you could say anything that I didn't already know and had already found _un_interesting." His eyes slid back to the gadget where he worked a large tool into the circuits of it.

"Did you know that human bone, inch for inch, is stronger than the steel that they make buildings out of?" She smiled wide at him. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Starscream scoffed, "That's because the metal on this planet is flimsy and easily demolished." His fingers worked swiftly to attach another two wires together. "Cybertronian metal is so much stronger than the materials on your pathetic planet." He paused and glanced around his quarters, "take this ship, for example." He waved a servo at the surrounding metal walls, "You could fire one of your nuclear bombs right at this ship and the best you could ever hope for is to throw it slightly off course. The outer exterior of the Nemesis is made of—." And here he said something in Cybertronian that Miko couldn't understand, but she assumed it was some kind of tough metal from Cybertron.

"Okay, okay," she said with an eye roll, "Let me try again." Miko pondered over what Starscream might consider the least bit interesting. Something psychological perhaps? "Did you know that you can repeatedly be told a lie until you finally believe it's true?"

Starscream didn't look at her but his mouth formed a frown, "Yes. That seems to be common knowledge; something I and pretty much everyone else already knew."

"So it works on Cybertronians, too?"

His optics slid over to her, "Of course. Anyone can be brainwashed into believing that what they're told, what they are striving for, is the truth no matter how much of a fallacy it is." He turned to face her and gave her a cruel smile, "It happens all the time."

Miko, suddenly uncomfortable with how serious the nature of the conversation seemed to turn, cleared her throat. She couldn't stop herself from asking, "Did it ever happen to you?"

"To ask that would imply that I had not known the supposed truth for what it really was: a fallacy." He picked the gadget up, staring at it solemnly, "I was very well aware of the truth, human." His optics were distant, recalling memories Miko had no knowledge of. "It is hard to deceive a deceiver."

* * *

_**"So you figured out my strategy yet, bro?" The girl asked her opponent. "Pretty bitchin' if I do say so myself."**_

_** The older boy raised an eyebrow, "What strategy? You're all over the board." He scoffed at her, "You don't even know what your pieces are."**_

_** She beamed at him from across the board, "That's what I like to hear!"**_

* * *

Miko watched Starscream well past the point of becoming exhausted (and bored!). Over the course of the day, not that she could really tell if it was day or night, he had relinquished her overall needs to be handled by a drone (who wasn't the one that had first taken care of her, much to her disappointment) who did not seem all that willing to talk to her.

She had asked the drone what his name was only to receive the same answer she got last time—he didn't have a name. This one, though, had been a flier model, and Miko had asked if all the fliers hung out together and all the cars stuck together. To which his answer was odd: "We are all the same, no matter the make, the model, or the paint." It sounded more like a slogan for something than anything else. When she asked about the shiny silver drones that they sometimes passed in the hallways, he became silent and offered her no further explanation.

It seemed that though they were of the same title, _drones_, the sleeker, shiny bots held a rank all their own. Miko had opened her mouth to ask about this to Starscream, but had quickly reconsidered. She didn't believe he would tell her the truth anyway. After all, like he had pointed out earlier that day, he was a deceiver among deceivers who supposedly thought they were deceiving _him_. It was all a bit trippy when Miko thought about it. The Second in Command of the Decepticons was being deceiving those who thought to deceive him, but Starscream, though he'd deny it in an instant, wasn't the smartest out of the bunch. Surely someone had caught on to him?

Miko thought of Soundwave, the spy with all the connections. Did he know? Surely. So the deceiver who is supposedly being deceived might _actually_ be being deceived by those who he was deceiving who he thought they thought were 'deceiving' him? That didn't sound right. Was she getting something backwards?

Her head began to hurt when she tried to piece it together. Maybe she was looking too much into the subject; she was just so bored, though. What else could she think about besides the inner workings of the Decepticons? If she thought too much about Bulkhead, the other Autobots, her family, jack, or Raf, then she knew she would become depressed with the knowledge that she may never see them again. So she let her mind dwell on the enemy. And who knew, maybe if she escaped or was rescued, she could nark on the crazy inner life that was the Decepticons'.

If she ever survived this trip she was gonna—

There was a loud bang. A thunderous roar. Then the Nemesis swayed a bit causing Miko's glass tube to wobble. She braced herself and sighed in relief when the tube didn't topple over. Her relief was short lived when the ship swayed again, and this time her prison began to fall off of the edge of Starscream's desk and towards the floor where she was certain it was crash into hundreds of pieces all of which would surely impale her fragile body.

The ground got closer, but before she could brace herself for the impact, she was caught. Thin metal digits wrapped around the tube carefully bringing her up and up and up until she was looking at the Decepticon insignia that was on Starscream's chest. Miko placed a hand over her heart and leaned back against the glass with relief. If he had been a drone she would have thanked him.

But he was Starscream. The biggest ninny this side of the galaxy, the over emotional, untrustworthy, deceiver of deceivers—Starscream. He deserved no thanks from her; in fact, he was supposed to take care of her anyway.

"What's going on?" She hollered at him. But he ignored her. Um, rude. She was standing right there. Almost had her body impaled with giant shards of glass. Hello?!

Starscream paid her no mind as he rushed out of his room, found the nearest drone, shoved her into its servos, and snarled, "Take her to Knockout or Soundwave, whoever you see first," and then darted down the hall. He shouted something about predacons and Shockwave and Megatron, but Miko couldn't make out much else before he was gone from sight.

She looked up at the drone, "Dude, what's got his wires in a bunch?"

The drone cocked his head at her, visor lighting up brilliantly, "Commander Starscream does not like the predacons." His voice, while not the same one from the drone she had first met, sounded vaguely familiar.

Miko snorted, "Dude, tell me something I don't know."

0o0o0o0o

"My Lord, please reconsider," Starscream begged. "The beasts have no self control. They nearly crashed us into the nearest mountain!" He was being dramatic, maybe overly so, but that was to be expected from him and so he did it. He hated to disappoint.

Megatron ignored his pleas, "The predacons will learn to adjust their landings to be a little more," he paused and smirked at his second, "careful for their aerial commander. It wouldn't do to jostle him." Megatron laughed at his joke causing Starscream to sneer at him when his back was turned.

Another clone was finished for Megatron's inspection. Tinier than its predecessor, it was still quite large and resembled some form of bird. It squawked at them but resigned itself to be petted by its master, Megatron. Starscream stood far behind his lord, watching the beasts and his master, while his eyes still darted around looking for Shockwave. The scientist played the role of rival well, but Starscream knew that Shockwave wasn't concerned about his position aboard the Nemesis or in the Decepticons. Shockwave only wished to bend the laws of biology and whether he did that with the Decepticons or the Autobots was a trivial matter.

Starscream's master, his leader to whom he had pledged his entire being, was ignorant of the true reality of loyalty among the Decepticons. The truth was: There is no loyalty among deceivers.

Except for maybe Soundwave. The mech was a cutout for desired loyalty. A yes man who had all the answers and didn't fail his master. The perfect subordinate for Megatron who hated to be argued with. His opinion was the only opinion.

"My Lord," Starscream began, "is it wise to keep the beasts on the warship?" His digits fidgeted and clinked together while his optics jumped around from the first beast to the next. "I mean, they can't all fit on the deck, my liege. And suppose one rocks the ship again? It could throw us off course or damage—."

Megatron interrupted his second's ranting with a wave of his servo all the while paying his inquiries no mind, "It is of no concern, Starscream." He gave the new predacons a rough pat to which it chirped. "Where is our human guest?"

The seeker jumped, "I had a drone take her to Knockout or Soundwave, whoever was available." He gave a placating smile to his lord, "So that I may come here and assist you."

0o0o0o0o

Miko huffed as she was placed with the only Decepticon that wouldn't speak even if it was to insult her. She lay on her back in the tube with her feet placed against the glass. Soundwave wouldn't even acknowledge her presence. Not a nod or a head tilt. The dude didn't even look in their direction when the drone had placed her on the console and told Sound wave of his orders from Starscream.

Rude much. And it didn't help that she was now bored out of her mind. At least Starscream spoke to her. God, she'd rather be with Doc Knock right now watching him patch up a drone or dissect one that was beyond repair. But no, she had to watch Soundwave do the most boring job in the world. Type at some kind of computer with a bunch of words she didn't understand flashing n the screen.

"What are you looking through?" She asked not really expecting a verbal answer, but at least an inclination of the head or something. Nothing. The communications officer continued to ignore her presence. Miko, irritated, kicked the glass of her prison and fumed. "Hey, con, stop ignoring me! I'm asking you a question!"

Soundwave continued to type away at the console pulling up various files that she could not read. An image popped up on the screen which she recognized. It was the blueprints of an object that she had seen Starscream working on. Soundwave appeared to be downloading the file to his direct console if Miko was judging the loading bar correctly. It could have meant anything.

She opened her mouth to comment that that was the same project Starscream was tinkering with in his room when she paused. Would it get him in trouble? What was it? She frowned, and what did it matter that it could get the whiny freak in trouble anyway?

It didn't matter. And then another thought popped into her head. What if she could take down the entire Decepticon system down from the inside? Make the whole thing crash from complete chaos. She could do that; she was good at chaos.

"You know, I saw Screamer working on something like that in his room." She smiled when the spy's visor tilted towards her discreetly. "Yeah, he was pretty focused on finishing it or something." Soundwave said nothing, but, she noticed with a sly smile, he pulled up a small recording feed of the Seeker's room and watched it intently.

0o0o0o0o

Megatron's metal eyebrows knitted together in frustrated anger as he looked at the blueprints on the visor of his communications officer. "And you are positive this is what I think it is?"

Soundwave nodded once at his Lord.

"How far along is he with it? Close to completion?" Soundwave's visor lit up and displayed a progress bar that appeared to be a quarter of the way full. Megatron frowned and contemplated this new information. "And this has the means of doing what we think it will? Is it even possible?"

To this, Soundwave wasn't certain. Technically with the right power source it could. The weapon was in the sense a generator of atoms that released blasts of nuclear radiation that could devastate any planet. But the weapon's blueprints were amateurish at best. Long ago, towards the beginning of the war when such things were to be used as a last resort. The weapon's blueprints had never made it past the planning stage. There just wasn't the right tools or stabilizing core that could be made to harness such power. And especially now, on this primitive planet, where resources were hoarded did it make even less sense to create, or _try_ to create, such a device.

"Do you believe it will be successful? This weapon was long ago lost, pushed aside as unstable and unimaginable." His communications officer denied the success of the weapon, but still relayed the danger in allowing the seeker to continue its creation. "Allow him to continue, but monitor him closely. I don't want that thing destroying my warship because of that idiot."

Soundwave nodded and was dismissed.

0o0o0o0o

In his quarters, Starscream looked over his device with critical optics. The human had told Soundwave, of this he was positive, of the device that he was working on. Humans were so predictable. Starscream knew that Soundwave was monitoring his searches and the fleshling creature most likely saw a picture of the blueprints and couldn't wait to blab about all she had seen.

Starscream turned towards where he knew Soundwave's security camera was and flashed the silent mech a sadistic grin. Let him think. Let him watch. Let him tell their master.

It didn't matter in the long run anyway.

Because _he _was always one step ahead of all the others. The gadget sparked from a frayed wire and Starscream moved to soothe it by attaching it to another.

* * *

_**"Why are you staring so intently at the board?" Her opponent asked as he moved a piece forward. **_

_** "I'm trying to find out which piece is which." She squinted her eyes, "Which is the flag and which is the Private and which is the spy!?" **_

_** The arbiter sighed, "They all look the same."**_

_** She snorted, "Duh. All the pieces 'seem' the same, but they are all different. This one could be the spy and that one could be the general, but you'd never know until it really mattered."**_

* * *

_The next chapter will delve into the 'M' material. I won't say hardcore, but enough to where I feel an 'M' would be proper, just in case, you know? If it is a little to softcore for M, I'm sure y'all will let me know. _

_Let me know what you think; it always makes me happy :)_

_MM_


	4. Confrontation

_Sorry for the delay, I was mostly concerned about the rating. I didn't think I went too deep into M in this chapter (if hardly at all), but, just to be safe, I kept it. _

_Warnings: Mild sexual discussions and contact in the presence of a minor, slight violence and gore. _

_Disclaimer: I own not these characters nor Transformers Prime. _

* * *

_**The girl moved a piece just in front of her opponent's piece and smiled at him. Whether he attacked or not was up to him, but she felt, even though she knew not what piece it was, that the victory would be hers.**_

_** The boy across from her frowned and studied the board before taking his piece and moving it.**_

* * *

It was disturbing watching the drone be taken apart while he was still live. Not in the same sense if he had been a human; wires and tubes could only resemble organic intestines so much. But the blood, the Energon, was real. It seeped out of every crevice dripping on the floors from the medbay table slowly like thick molasses. Miko, who could see it all from her high vantage point, was curious as to why the Energon blood was so thick seeing as how when they ingested it, it was thin and water like in consistency. Somewhere, churning about in their metal bodies, the Energon thickened like glue and traveled slowly through their tubes. Weird.

She wanted to ask, but she didn't feel she could over the screams and whines of the drone that lay tied down to the examination table while Knockout hovered over him. Miko wanted to find it cool to watch the drone be torn apart, he was the enemy after all, but his screams were too real. If she concentrated just a bit, they began to sound even human losing every mechanical aspect about them.

Miko had wanted to find it rewarding to see the drone strapped down while his wires were crossed with foreign (at least to her they were foreign) ones causing his systems to short circuit and fail (she could tell from all the smoke); she wanted to get some sadistic pleasure out of seeing it happen to a Decepticon, but she couldn't. She was reminded of the soft spoken drone that had lifted her up high so that she could reach the branches of the apple trees, and how he had spoken of his lack of identity, his lack of individuality. . .

Miko wanted to be pleased and to find it cool, but she couldn't. And that's probably what Optimus would have wanted anyway. Bulkhead would be proud of her for not finding it amusing, wouldn't he? At the thought of Bulkhead, lonely thoughts crept across her mind at an agonizing pace keeping the terrible truth fresh in her mind. She would not survive this trip. The odds were against her.

The drone was screaming again. And Miko wanted to ask why they were doing this to him. Why Megatron was allowing this to happen to his own troops, but her throat was constricted. Every time she opened her mouth to ask, the drone's screams echoed around them, and she was unable to voice any questions.

After awhile, Knockout began to patch up the whimpering drone. Closing his chest plates after placing frayed wires back to their original places and soothing them with solder. Miko watched as the doctor's hand began to drift lower and lower until it began to caress the plating between the drone's legs. She blushed in embarrassment, not sure if what she was seeing was what it seemed to imply to her. Knockout's skilled digits plucked at the seams of the drones—eh, cod piece?—and Miko listened as the whimpers and soft sobs of pain began to give way to steady moans coming from a nonexistent mouth.

She watched with a perverse fascination as the plating moved revealing a large cable. The doctor never even blinked as he handled the private piece with care causing the drone to moan even more. It wasn't long, though, when Knockout finished his soothing and the drone was ushered to leave. Cable slinking back behind silver plating, the drone nodded, bowed, and was off without a word. Knockout went over to a sink and began to wash his servos while humming, as if what had just happened was a normal occurrence—which it probably was.

"What just happened?" Miko demanded with a blush still staining her face. She wasn't ignorant of the concepts of sex, but it didn't make it any less awkward and embarrassing to watch someone be fondled.

The doctor shrugged, "What do you mean? Just a routine system reboot as well as some internal repair." He made his way over to the table where the drone had lay strapped down, screaming, and began to clean off the Energon that was caking it. "They get shot at so much that their wires get in a disarray and I have to be the one to put them back into working order. Messy business if you ask me."

Miko didn't look convinced, "You weren't experimenting on him?"

The doctor scoffed, "Why would I? He's a drone; there's nothing special about a drone, so there's nothing to experiment with." Miko made a mental note that his reasoning wasn't that the drone was a Decepticon. It begged the question: Did they experiment on their own?

"Well, what was that stuff. . ." she trailed off as her blush returned, "that stuff at the end?" She glared at him, "Taking advantage of your patients?"

Knockout rolled his optics but shot her a saucy smirk, "I'm not allowed to shut off their pain sensors during the procedure, messes with their processors—something to do with their model format— and it's fragging hard to undo once it's been done, so the procedure gets pretty painful." He shrugged and continued to wipe off the Energon. "So afterwards I try to soothe the pain away the best way I know how," he smirked at her. "Surely you know about interfacing, hmm?"

"Yeah, but, aren't all the drones, dudes?" Miko's brow furrowed, "Unless you're into that kinda thing, I guess."

Knockout's metal brow rose, "_Dudes_?" He thought for a moment before realizing what she meant. He scoffed again, "Cybertronians aren't as limited as humans when it comes to interfacing. Our species is a lot more _flexible_ with creation unlike yours. Basically, we all have the same equipment."

Now Miko was confused, "You mean all of you have. . ."

He sighed, "A spike and a valve." To show his point he held up a digit and wiggled it around before forming a circle with his other hand and placing the wiggling digit inside of this circle. The doctor gave a laugh at her blushing face.

"Even the girls?!" Miko pictured Arcee, and then got an image that she'd rather not have thought of. She wondered if Arcee had ever told Jack. Probably not. It wasn't something that usually came up in conversation.

"Femme spikes are small and just about nonexistent, so they're more up for valve play, although I have done some checkups on femmes that would put a few mechs to shame with the equipment they're packing." He smirked at her sensing her discomfort, "But mechs, like me, have both and swing either way in preference." He finished wiping off the table and threw the cloth on the floor. "I'm more of a taker than a giver, but I can be very generous if the mood strikes me."

Miko made a face, "I can't believe for an advanced race that you guys do the same thing we humans do."

"Like I said," Knockout began, "we're not as limited." He reached a servo down and began removing a thin cable from a port just below his chest. The silver plating had slid back revealing a cable and a small port for one to be plugged in. "This can also be used to receive an overload, or, excuse me, _orgasm_, but it's not all that helpful with reproduction unless you're inputting data codes," he shrugged. "It's more of a data transfer between two of our kind and a bit more intimate, but—."

There was a gasp from the doorway of the medbay, "Put that thing away!" Miko turned to see Starscream looking embarrassed and angry all at once standing with his servos clinched and his optics narrowed. "What is wrong with you? Have you lost all sense of decency?!" Miko had the insane urge to giggle at the seeker's face and the way he cringed when Knockout twirled the cable in his servos. His wings on his back hitched up and flicked up and down adding to the sense of his nervousness.

"Don't be a prude, Screamer, it's just a data transfer cable. Not like I have my spike waving about, though I'm sure you wouldn't mind the show." He smirked at his commander, "Wanna swap some data?" He waved his data cable around in a faux attempt at enticing the seeker.

This time she did giggle and quickly made to cover it up with her hand as Starscream stared, horrified beyond belief, at the doctor. "No-no, you incorrigible, pathetic excuse of a doctor." His red optics settled on the human and he angrily picked up her glass prison, clutching it angrily, "I am _only_ here for the human." He sneered at Knockout.

"Suit yourself," he gave his thin cable another twirl before retracting it back within his plating. "Some other time perhaps? Maybe with a spike instead of a data cable, hmm?"

The seeker scoffed, snarled, and then proceeded to march towards the exit with Knockout hollering after him, unable to help himself with one last dig at his commander.

"I'll make you an appointment."

0o0o0o0o

Starscream mumbled to himself as he carried Miko along down hallway after hallway until she wasn't sure if they were going towards the front of the ship, where Megatron usually spent most of his time with Soundwave at the consoles, or if they were going backwards. At one point he had actually taken an elevator down to a floor, but then continued down another series of hallways all the while mumbling to himself in Cybertronian.

He brought her deeper into the depths of the ship, so deep, in fact, that Miko stopped seeing drones littering the area working on something or another—all was quiet and empty. And this made her nervous. Why was he down here?

The lighting was dimmed, probably to conserve energy, and it gave the halls an eerie feeling. Miko half expected a horde of zombies to come limping around the corner after them. If she had been with anyone else, Miko would have said that this was the best place of a screaming rock video with fake blood galore and maybe even a couple of zombies, but she was with Starscream. And the way he kept mumbling to himself with that gleam in his optics made her nervous and uncomfortable to be with him.

She would much rather be with Soundwave at the moment. At least he seemed mentally stable. Seemed being the key word. Miko had no idea if _any_ of the cons on the ship were stable.

The seeker stopped at a door and began to punch in a passcode from the odd Cybertronian symbols that made up the buttons. She wanted to memorize it, just in case, but she couldn't see the whole key pad. The last four buttons were lost to her.

Miko couldn't see inside the room. It was barely lit, and though her eyes would adjust to the darker setting, she still could only make out odd shapes and blobs. Starscream seemed to have no trouble. He set her tube down with a thud—most likely on top of a desk—and then she heard his digits type away. A consol booted up and the room was lit with the blue light. Miko took this opportunity to look around.

The room was practically barren save for a large work desk in the center littered with components of metal pieces and fraying wires and random tools. Other than that, there was only the small console that rested on the metal desk she had been placed on.

_ Why was he down here?_

"What are you doing?" She asked him, but the seeker was still mumbling to himself. Miko doubted he heard her. The human leaned in towards the glass and pressed her face against it, smushing her ear to it and trying to make out his muffled speech. He was speaking a mix of English and Cybertronian.

"I will need to calibrate the systems more so that it can—." Then he went off in Cybertronian leaving Miko confused as to what he was saying. He furiously typed away, his optics never leaving the screen.

Miko opened her mouth ask, again, what he was doing and why he was down here, but then the doors slid aside and the thunderous steps of Megatron were heard before she could even see the warlord.

"Starscream," he growled.

And said seeker looked terrified.

* * *

"_**What?!" The girl shouted, "That wasn't supposed to happen." She shot her opponent a frown.**_

"_**It's called an unexpected capture," he said smugly.**_

* * *

It had all happened in a blur of movement. Starscream gasped, Megatron had growled, and then, too fast for Miko to be able to comprehend, Starscream was being thrown against the far wall by Megatron, begging for mercy while he was being beaten with large fists into the ground.

Miko had thought it would be kinda funny, but it was horrifying to watch. To hear the seeker whine and shriek and scream while he was beaten into submission for reasons unknown by her. She had thought it would be hilarious to watch as his arm was ripped from his body and Energon spilled out onto the metal floor below.

But it wasn't. She had gone to smile, but the moment Megatron's claws embedded themselves into the seeker's slight, silver chassis and began tearing him apart, Miko found herself unable to smile. Energon, thick and glistening in the dull lighting, flew over the room until, eventually, Starscream's shrieks of pain and mercy were but mere mumbles and whimpers.

She watched as Megatron stood, turned towards a pair of drones, and shouted for them to take their commander to the medbay. Miko watched as they dragged him away, not able to carry him for he was barely hanging together. Megatron watched them leave before turning to look at her, giving her a sadistic grin. From behind him Soundwave emerged and grasped her container.

"How far along was he?" Megatron rumbled as he made his way to the console that Starscream had been working on. Miko craned her neck and looked to see Soundwave's faceplates which lit up and produced a bar with it three quarters of the way filled. More Cybertronian symbols were placed around the image. "That far and so quickly?" He growled loudly and beat a large fist against the console, effectively creating a large dent in it.

"You told me it wasn't possible, that he couldn't create it!" Megatron stabbed a sharp clawed digit towards the communications officer. "And he's already near completion!"

Soundwave's faceplate lit up, and Miko watched lines dance across it before she heard Knockout's voice come from him, "is nearly ready to launch all we require is—an ample power source."

"And the likelihood of him finding such a power source, especially in his now delicate state, is near nonexistent." The warlord grumbled more to himself than to Soundwave. "Make sure to keep him occupied when he leaves the medbay. Keep the human with him, and put him on monitor duty or something so that I can keep and optic on him." He glanced at the tube in his communications officer's servos before bending down to be face to face with her.

He grinned at her, and Miko shot him a glare while backing away from his face. "Make sure you keep our commander occupied, human, and I may just release you with all of your limbs attached to that puny body of yours." The waving of his servo was the signal of his dismissal, and Soundwave took his leave of his leader.

0o0o0o0o0o

Miko watched Starscream as the doctor proceeded to patch him together without a word. Soundwave had brought her immediately to the medbay where Knockout was already working on transferring Energon to the seeker. After Soundwave had left, Knockout proceeded to pop open the top of her prison and deposited her on a metal desk, high enough off the ground where she couldn't have jumped down even if she wanted to, and went back to work effectively ignoring her presence. It didn't bother her so much at the moment.

Miko hated the silence. It made her uncomfortable. Not to mention she now felt a bit guilty, however misplaced this feeling was, about telling Soundwave about Starscream's project. It was stupid to feel that way. It went against her bravado, but she felt it all the same. With a sigh, she sat on the edge of the desk and began to kick her in the air while she watched Doc Knock fix the seeker.

0o0o0o0o0o

Soundwave felt no guilt at what had been done to Starscream. It had gone as it was supposed to have. They had planned it that way. It all had to be planned with the utmost care and secrecy. Of course, keeping the drones silent was the hardest part. They were so eager.

They had a habit of grouping together when everyone was in recharge and gossiping about it. When this had been brought up, they used it to their advantage. Placing the drones where they wanted them to be, allowing them to converse in the right setting.

No one could say that Soundwave wasn't a good actor. He played his part well—for the good of their species he _had _to. But here, away from others, he could work on finding the missing pieces that would be needed to finish the project without the need of his façade. His fingers skimmed across the keypad.

For the good of Cybertron. . .

0o0o0o0o0o

Starscream watched as the dents that littered his now patched up body were being banged out by Knockout. Afterwards he would be painted and waxed and buffed—Knockout, when he _did_ do something, never did it half way—and maybe even given a sedative to help him defrag his aching processor.

After the last dent was pounded out and the doctor left to retrieve paint from storage, the human began speaking much to his aggravation.

"So you just about got scrapped by bucket head," the human's voice made him cringe. Loud and high pitched and irritating to the audios. "All because of this project that you're almost done with."

Starscream's vents heaved as he struggled to cycle air, "I am _not_ almost finished with anything." He sneered at her, "I've just begun."

Miko cocked her head to the side, confused, "That's not what Soundwave said or, you know, showed."

He smiled at her, barring his denta. "Yes, I know what he said." He turned his optics towards the blaring lights above him, "I know everything."

Miko snorted, "The bad guy knows everything, pfft, that, like, never happens." She placed a tiny servo on her hip and grinned, "The bad guy always loses because he _doesn't_ know everything."

His voice came out as barely above a whisper, "Who said I'm the bad guy? And who said Prime's the good guy?" He got louder and he clenched his servos into fists, "And who do you think created bad guys?" He spat this at her. "And are there even bad guys or just differing opinions?! Maybe _you're_ the bad guy."

She glared at him, "You're bad because of your actions."

"An opinion of yours," he sneered. "What folly to believe such garbage. And what if we are forced to do things? Forced To act as we do."He looked at her and smirked, "You have no answer because you are ignorant of things around you. Such is the life of a child" He glanced towards the camera in the corner of the room, "If we are created good, if there is such a thing as good and bad," he spat out the words with distaste, "then as we experience new things we become bad. All of us."

"That's not—."

The human stopped when he smiled at her, "Do you know why the good become bad?" He didn't pause long enough to allow her to respond, "It's because the bad corrupts good. Always. And you know why?"

Miko frowned, "no."

"Because _good_ secretly wants to be _bad_." He sighed and leaned back against the hard medical berth, "If you believe such nonsense like the concepts of good and bad, the holy and the evil, of Primus and the such."

Miko tugged at one of her pig tails, "Well, if you're not bad, and you're not good, what are you?"

Starscream rolled his optics at the simplistic, almost sparkling nature, of the question. "Humans have only two categories?" he quirked a metallic brow, "The good or the bad, the righteous or the unrighteous." He snorted, "Your race certainly lacks in imagination to have such pitiful descriptions of two forces." He settled his red optics on her.

"You didn't answer my question," she said while stomping her foot in indignation.

From down the hall he could hear Knockout ordering some drones to hurry along with the paint canisters. "I am, and forever always will be, an opportunist."

0o0o0o0o0o

In the depths, deep down in the bowels of the ship, they went about their task.

The drones worked quickly making no noise between them. Their only concern was the engineering of the project they had been assigned.

For the greater good of Cybertron. . .

0o0o0o0o0o

Shockwave kneeled before his master, his helm down almost touching the floor of the ship. "My lord," he rumbled low, "Your fleet of Predacons has been completed," he paused, "as well as the device for the human."

"Perfect."

* * *

"_**You've got one side over here," her opponent explained, "doing one thing and another side doing another." He sighed, "Do you even know what you're doing?"**_

"_**Of course I do, just watch and be amazed at my victory!" She then took one piece, the furthest one back, the one that had yet to be moved, and pushed it towards the square in front of it with a wry grin on her face.**_


	5. Strategy

A/N: Sorry for the wait. I've been sad about TFP :( And this was a biiitch to write. Ready for some Starscream confusion?

Disclaimer: I own not Transformers Prime.

* * *

_**"I think you're getting nervous," she said to her opponent. "Don't worry, all your suffering will be over soon."**_

_** He scoffed and moved a piece off to the side, "Don't get cocky, that's the fastest way to get beat down a few notches."**_

_** She rolled her eyes, "This is where you learn everything there is to know." She pushed a random piece for a confrontation. "So pay close attention and maybe you'll learn something."**_

* * *

Miko was supposed to distract the seeker. That was what Megatron, the ugly, bucket headed leader of the Decepticons, had said. But she didn't quite know how to go about doing that. Not with him so jumpy now that he was out of the medbay; he must have checked the security channels that watched right outside his room over a hundred times now. Was he afraid?

Did he fear Megatron would come back and beat him into stasis again? Miko didn't blame him for thinking like that, but she doubted that Megatron would consider it. He just wanted her to keep the seeker busy. Something she wasn't sure she knew how to do. It made her nervous, and so to drown out this nervousness, she asked questions. She asked about his room, about the things in his room, and about the Decepticons, but she never received any response. He just continued to check the security feeds before pacing again.

So Miko tried another question that had been bothering her for a time.

"Why can't the drones hit anything?" Starscream stopped his pacing, his red optics shifted towards her, focusing on her as she sat on the edge of his desk with her feet kicking away. He stared down at her, scrutinizing her, his mouth pressed into a thin line.

"You've used the wrong word," he said hoarsely. He cycled some air as if to clear his vents from any debris before he continued. "You've seen the schematics, the drones can hit anything." He was suddenly solemn, "That is how they were programmed."

Miko kicked her feet, "so then why _don't_ they hit anything?" She grinned cheekily up at him, "Not that I'm complaining."

Starscream shifted his optics towards the top corner of the room and Miko followed his gaze, but, while the seeker seemed to be watching something intently, Miko couldn't see anything but the corner. He stared hard at something she couldn't see, and then gave her a bitter sneer.

"You wouldn't complain, would you?" His servos crossed behind him, just below his wingspan. "All of your friends coming back with hardly a scratch because somehow they had dodged every blast from a good half a dozen drones, nothing to really complain about." His heeled pedes clicked on the metal flooring as he slowly strolled in front of her. "Your friends coming back to you, while they leave a wake of _corpses_ in their stead."

Miko ignored his tone, "That reminds me, where do you keep getting all of your drones if we keep bashing their faces into the ground?" He glared at her and she shot him a smirk. "You just build more?"

"No," he forced himself to say. "The drones you see at each battle are the drones you will always see." He looked at the corner again, his optics flickering as he stared where the three metal walls met.

She continued to distract him, "then why do they get knocked out so easily." She stood up on the desk and punched her fist into the air with a tiny giggle. "One hit and they're down for the count." Miko recalled the time where Bulkhead had removed the internal wirings of one of the drones. His large fist ripping the tubes and wires from the smaller mech as he told her not to look. It suddenly wasn't very funny anymore.

Starscream didn't look at her when he responded, "You're doing a very poor job at distracting me." His voice was brittle and hoarse, and Miko wondered if it was still recovering from when Megatron had gripped his neck and just about crushed it in his grip.

She kicked her feet, "Who says I'm distracting you?"

He smirked, looking straight into her own eyes with his optics, "I've already told you before, human. You can't deceive a deceiver." He began to pace slowly, "It's not your fault, though. I wouldn't expect much else from a child. Especially a human child." She opened her mouth to retort, but he continued, "They're programmed that way."

"Huh?" Miko raised an eyebrow at him. The con was insane. This was her revelation. He had to be.

He spared her a glance before pacing again, "The drones. I programmed them that way. Shockwave may do what he likes with their design and core processors, but when he sends them here," the seeker took a sharp digit and pointed towards the ground, "then _I_ take control."

Miko snorted, "And bucket head lets you do that?"

The seeker's servos clenched and he barred his denta at her, "He should be lucky he has an army at all. Not with the recent problems I've had to deal with. With their stupid, basic processors and their need for a societal ranking system." Miko kept her mouth shut and it was all the incentive Starscream needed. "If I hadn't installed the fail safe program, we'd be up to our servos in dead drones and a horde of them rioting." The seeker's optics drifted to that corner again before he continued. "And eventually Shockwave would have run out of decent components to make more. There's only so much material on a dead planet. We'd have to use Earth materials, primitive and worthless as your planet's resources are. The drones would then become weaker and less intelligent and their trouble shooting skills would be lacking. I've done everyone on this ship a favor!"

Miko felt that this wasn't the type of distraction that Megatron had wanted, but she didn't let that stop her from asking more questions. "What's the fail safe program?"

Starscream glanced at her, those red orbs zeroing in on her and pinning her in place. "You asked me why they don't hit anything—well, first, you asked why they can't, and you were right, I suppose." He tapped a digit to his chin plates. "They physically _can_, but their processors won't allow it." He glanced at the security monitors, "And now you're going to ask me why, and that's really a difficult answer to give to a small, human child who sees nothing but a monster when she sees this sigil." He tapped at his Decepticon symbol that rested on his chest.

"You've done terrible things," she said. She tried not to notice how he danced around explaining the fail safe program. But she couldn't help but be curious.

He flicked his digits, "I suppose."

Miko frowned, "Why?"

"That's a very good question to ask," he gave a half hearted sneer, "but I just don't have an answer to give. Not one that you would accept anyway."

Miko suddenly felt incredibly small and terribly young. As if she were a toddler grasping her parents' pant legs and demanding answers to questions that she just wouldn't comprehend. Before the seeker could continue, though, she asked another question. "Why did you become a Decepticon when you knew you were being deceived?"

He stood before her with wings twitching and optics slightly feverish and digits clicking together and, to her surprise, he smiled. "I already told you, human. I am an opportunist. I'm certainly glad I'm not an Autobot. Do you see where they are now? Practically on the verge of starvation and defending a planet that's tearing itself apart. Helping the dominant species keep their world while the humans slowly drain it away anyway." He turned from her and moved about the room, picking up random objects and examining them. "Humans are entirely selfish creatures. They're the only ones allowed to destroy their planet, no one else." Starscream frowned at her, "Pity it's like this. At this odd stalemate. The Decepticons have more resources, but the Autobots are too stubborn to wave the white flag. And they have a nasty habit of defeating our forces—not that I hadn't planned on that. They're very stubborn."

"That's because they're braver than you are," Miko growled. She thought of Bulkhead, and his image made her feel lonely. Were they trying to save her? She hoped so. Surely they were.

Starscream rolled his optics, "I don't doubt that. I am not brave nor am I too proud to beg." He glanced at her, "The drones don't hit anything because _I_ don't allow them to. I've got many plans, and if the drones were as good at sharpshooting as they're programmed to be, then I'd be out of the Autobots." He walked over to her, picked her up, and then placed her in her container, "And I need the Autobots."

Miko could only ask: "Why?"

"It's all part of the big picture, human." He carried her out into the hallway, "A big picture that you can only see a piece of." They came to a door which slid aside revealing a mass of drones huddled together, whispering to each other, but coming to attention at Starscream's entrance. "But maybe your mind will be enlightened."

And then she was given to the closest drone. And the seeker left.

* * *

_**"You're losing pieces," he said smugly. "If this were checkers, I'd be winning."**_

_** She frowned, "Well, it's **_**not**_** checkers, and you're **_**not**_** winning." She captured a piece of his and was disappointed when it wasn't the flag. **_

_** "Maybe you'll be the one learning something."**_

_** She shot him a sweet smile that didn't reach her eyes, "Don't underestimate the little guy."**_

* * *

Being with the drones was awkward. Like, third wheel awkward. Or the aftermath of an open mouth insert foot comment. It was extremely awkward.

Where before when they hadn't noticed her, they had been boisterous in conversation in the room that Miko was assuming was some sort of recreation room. Not that it really looked like a rec room. It was bare and held only a few tables and chairs along with a monitor at the far wall to her right. Not a fun place to hang.

The drone holding her container gently twisted the cap off and pulled her free from the claustrophobic prison. He lifted her by the scruff of her clothes with just the tips of his digits, bringing her up to his visor level.

"Yo, dude," she complained, "don't drop me."

His voice was gruff, "That would be counterproductive." To Miko's eyes he looked like just another drone, just the same as all the others, but something was different. Something was very off about this drone. His paint job was the same. His build was the same. He was a vehicon, but they were all a mix mash of either eradicon or vehicon. There was nothing to tell him apart from the rest, except how he seemed to carry himself.

He was different.

She kicked her feet at the air, "When are you gonna let me down?"

The drone tilted its head to the side. "I have heard about the human child aboard the Nemesis," his voice reminded her a bit like one of the drill sergeants back at the base. Miko could remember hearing them hollering out orders and insults through the flimsy walls of the Autobots' base. "You are just as described." Deeper voiced than Ultra Magnus, but he didn't have the rumbling tone that Optimus did.

Miko didn't know if that was an insult or not. It almost sounded like one. Another drone came forward and saluted the one holding her, raising its servo and slapping it over its chest before giving a nod, before speaking. "Sir, allow me to take the human to a more appropriate setting."

The drone holding her didn't look at the other drone. The whole of his attention was on Miko who dangled dangerously from his delicate grip. Any moment now her shirt could rip sending her tumbling to the ground with her neck most like snapped and her back shattered. "I think the human will be fine."

"But, sir—!"

The drone holding her held up his servo, silencing any more protests from the other. His visor glowed as he stared at her. "You will not be trouble, will you human?"

She twisted in his grip, "My name is Miko." She shot him a scowl. "That's _my_ name, not like you can return the sentiment."

The drone huffed in what seemed to be amusement and raised her higher, "I am called Alpha Niner, human—Miko." She was surprised at the admission. He had a name or rather a title. He _was_ different than the others. That hadn't been her imagination running wild. _ And their need for a societal ranking system._ Starscream's words echoed back at her.

"You have a name," she whispered.

He pulled her closer to his visor, her yellow eyes staring straight into the red. His voiced rumbled out, "Doesn't every sentient being have a name?"

0o0o0o0o0o

Starscream met Soundwave down below in the deepest, most forgotten parts of the Nemesis where a handful of drones were working. Their project took up the whole room leaving few areas to stand comfortably without having to situate themselves around large pistons of metal. They found a small clearing near the back and held their conference there.

"Have you located a power source for it?" Starscream kept his voice low and his optics shifted around as though to catch a spy ready to squeal. It didn't matter that he was talking to the communications officer—the resident spy on the Nemesis. Soundwave nodded. "Good," the seeker's claws clenched and unclenched. "How long before we can piece it together?"

Soundwave displayed a Cybertronian clock on his face plate.

"Another five joors?" Starscream snarled. "He'll have planted it already and then she'll lead them to the Autobots and we can't have that. I _need _them." The seeker cycled loudly, "I need Optimus Prime." He tapped at his face plates, "We'll have to see that the human is removed _before_ they implant her. She cannot lead him to Prime."

_"Prisoner of the enemy,"_ came Megatron's digitalized voice from Soundwave's recorder.

Starscream scoffed, "I _know_. Can you get her off the ship?"

Soundwave stared intently at his commander, his face plate reflecting the seeker's hard stare. After a moment he nodded and Starscream dismissed him. They couldn't let the human ruin their plans.

0o0o0o0o

Megatron stared at the tiny chip that was smaller than the tip of his claw. Shockwave had had to use the tiniest tools available and then some to create the tracking device that would fit inside the human's brain.

Knockout would perform the surgery, and Megatron had hopes that the human girl would survive the implantation long enough to lead them to the Autobots. The doctor was sure he could complete the objective with the human at least physically able to leave, but wasn't sure how it would affect her other skills and thought process. But that didn't matter much to the war lord.

His thoughts strayed to his second and he wondered if the seeker was well distracted. It didn't matter at the moment. He would deal with the seeker after the human was taken care of. And then the Autobots. And then Cybertron and Earth would be his to command.

0o0o0o0o

"I was told by every drone that all were one and none were different and no one had a name," Miko hollered at Alpha Niner. "No one would talk to me, and no one would tell me their names and they were all secretive about everything."

Alpha Niner hummed, "We don't need you to ruin everything we've worked for, Human Miko. Discretion would be much appreciated."

Miko furrowed her brow, "But I don't understand."

Alpha Niner nodded, "I know." He sighed and began to make his way out of the rec room and down the hall towards an elevator. "I doubt you could ever truly comprehend what's been a long time in the making." Two other drones had accompanied him into the elevator and he instructed them to head down. The elevator lurched and then began to descend. "But maybe I can shed some light on your confusion."

She frowned at him, "So I can see the bigger picture?"

His visor flashed, "Yes. The _very_ big picture."

The elevator continued to drop.

* * *

_**"Here's where it get's interesting," she said as she takes a new piece and moves it past another of her pieces. Grouping them together, holding a tight formation.**_

_** "You don't even know which piece that is," he said studying the board.**_

_** "Doesn't matter," she said while sticking her tongue out at him. "I **_**know**_** who my flag is," she said with an arched eyebrow.**_

_** He rolled his eyes, "You couldn't possibly." He moved another piece for a confrontation, and she watched the outcome with glee.**_

* * *

A/N: Shorter than the rest, so I do apologize. I didn't want to overwhelm everyone, so I kept it short. I'm sure there are myriads of mistakes, and I promise I'll go back and edit it at a later date. As always, R&R, it makes me smile when you tell me stuff. You could even just be like: Hi. And I can be like: Hi back. :)


	6. Winner Take All

_A/N: Try not to hate me forever? All questions are answered. All plots revealed. Enjoy_

_Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own imagination._

* * *

**_"_****_You've only got a few pieces left," the boy said while moving a piece ton confront another of hers. "And I already know how it's going to end."_**

**_She rolled her eyes at him, "You're always so sure of yourself." She turned to the Arbiter, "Well, call it."_**

* * *

_Miko's eyes widened as she took in the scene around her. "Whoa," she whispered. "What is it?" The drone, Alpha Niner, stepped further into the dark room. "It is the future." And then the room was set ablaze in faux luminescence._

The Warlord Megatron paced slowly from one end of the bridge to another, his pedes thudding heavily against the metal flooring. Every so often a growl would emit from his clenched denta which caused the few drones manning the array of comms. to flinch and keep their helms bowed over their work. The last thing they wanted was for their leader's wrath to come down on them.

It happened all the time. Lord Megatron would stand in the center of the bridge looking out over Earthen sky and think. And when he thought, his thoughts traveled to dark places which caused him to pace in anger. Eventually that anger would need to be dealt with and the usual means of dealing with it was either a passing drone or Starscream. The drones didn't know why exactly their lord was angry, who could know the thoughts of the deranged?

But they were observant. Endless orbital cycles of experience and they were knowledgeable to the fact that their lord was on edge. They didn't dare speak to each other about it less they get caught and incur the wrath of their lord, but a glance at one another and a nod at one of their own closest to the exit was all it took. The warning would be spread and the others would know to keep quiet.

_ "The future?" Her voice was bathed in awe as she stared upon the sight of—whatever it was. It was large, it was shiny, and as Alpha Niner brought her closer, she saw that it was vibrating. _

_ "Yes," he answered. He placed a servo upon the structure and watched as it, too, vibrated with the machine. "For the good of all of Cybertron."_

_ Miko stared at the drone's face and searched his optic strip for . . . something—anything that would explain what was going on. The red visor glowed brightly. She chose her words carefully. "What does it do?"_

_ Alpha Niner gave his helm a tilt._

Megatron growled his intakes rumbling as he did so. His servos clenched tightly as he continued to pace, his thoughts a raging sea. Soundwave had informed him that it was impossible to find the proper power source. Human technology was too primitive and too fragile to properly stabilize the weapon. But if Starscream could harness it, could find a suitable power source—Megatron grinned ferociously—it could be put to good use. That was why he hesitated to destroy that which could prove to be the greatest threat aboard his vessel.

The potential. The raw power that would come from such a device was too tempting a prize to give up. Not that he would _help_ the seeker finish the job. No. He would rather take his wayward second by surprise. If the project was ever completed, Megatron would gladly take over the reins and pave the way to a new Cybertron by first eradicating every living thing upon the earth with wave upon wave of toxic radiation.

_ "It is _supposed_ to be a weapon." The drone carried her around the large metal _thing_ showing off every angle. "Its primary purpose is mass destruction on an organic scale, clearing the path for non-organic life to begin."_

_Miko frowned, "It's gonna wipe out all the life on Earth."_

_ Alpha Niner's visor glinted, "No. It is not intended for Earth." He brought her to a display panel where various diagrams lit up on a purple screen. All were written in Cybertronian. "I said before that nuclear radiation is its primary function." He tapped the consol with his free servo. "We've merely tweaked it a bit."_

_ She huffed, "So what's it gonna do now?"_

_ "It will restore life rather than destroy it."_

The drone that had made himself scarce on the bridge now quickly hurried along the corridors to the elevator that he would take down into the deepest pits of the Nemesis. He passed others on his way to the elevator, but he paid them no mind. He had to make sure The Alpha knew so that he could keep an optic out for any signs of—

There was a harsh clank as the drone collided with a familiar form. The drone stood quickly and flinched at the sight his optical feed was giving him. Officer Shockwave. Shaken and nervous, he quickly saluted before standing off to the side so as to allow the science officer to pass. But Shockwave made no such move.

"You are in quite a hurry, drone." That brilliant red optic pinned said drone in place as Shockwave moved his bulky form between the drone and freedom. "Where are you to report?"

The drone's servos clenched as he stood unmoving.

_ Miko stared at the schematics as if she could decipher their confusing symbols. Her golden eyes flickering to the pictures placed next to them. Odd combinations of various mechanical objects and then a planet alongside them. "Cybertron?"_

_ "Yes," Alpha Niner said smoothly. _

_ "How?"_

Soundwave stood at his consol while his digits typed away quickly at the keypad. Data upon data was being packed into a tiny drive and still so much more data to go until he had everything he needed. The drive had to be ready before the shields momentarily fell and it had to be in just the right place for everything to work. There could be no mistakes. No lack in judgment. No skimming of the plan to make better time—he had told Starscream this.

For the good of Cybertron everything had to go perfectly or the fallout would be devastating. Neither of them could afford to fail. He typed away again. Never stopping as the drive began to fill with everything they would ever need.

The drive pinged, the data filled, Soundwave pulled it out and stowed it away before heading towards the elevator shaft. The slug would be left there before the shields came down. Just like it was all supposed to happen.

He turned a corner and found Shockwave bearing down on a drone who looked about ready to bolt which would not bode well for any of them. Soundwave strode up and placed thin digits on Shockwave's shoulder plating. The science officer jolted and turned his red optic to his fellow officer.

"Soundwave," he began, "do you have business with this drone? He seems to be malfunctioning, running through the ship without any heed to others."

The communications officer didn't answer. He turned to the drone, pulled out the data slug, and handed it to the drone. Reaching into his archives for the right voice recording, he pulled up Megatron's. "Act quickly—do you understand me?"

The drone nodded frantically, saluted them both, and took off down the hall towards his original destination while avoiding anyone else that came in his path.

"I think I will run a maintenance scan on all of the drones at the beginning of the next cycle," Shockwave said as he began to walk with Soundwave back to the bridge. "Their hardware and their processors need a thorough check. You will schedule it with Knockout?" Soundwave turned his helm and his face plate reflected that red eye that so many on the ship feared. He nodded and the science officer hummed in appreciation.

0o0o0o0o0

Starscream twitched in anticipation when Soundwave gave the all clear. The power source had been located, the machine was ready to be dropped, and the data drive was in position to be found. Now was all about timing. His digits clinked together as he fidgeted around his room. Consol displaying the drones where their Alpha held the human and would continue to hold her until he was shot and fallen to the ground like all the others.

Their Alpha knew his part well. It had been thoroughly explained, they'd all gone over what to do, and having the human—who had thrown a giant wrench into the scheme of things—there would only serve to better the outcome. To allow her rescuers to believe what was before them.

It had to be like this. For the greater good of Cybertron—the Autobots would have to win. And as much as he hated to lose, as much as he prided himself on being a winner or being the best, Starscream hated to die even more. Forever the opportunist, he would take advantage of the Autobots by allowing them to succeed where his _lord_ had failed. And Soundwave, the ever loyal Decepticon, could not help but miss Cybertron as well. They all missed Cybertron—Soundwave, though, most of all.

The communications officer was too loyal to allow their leader to be dealt with. But then, too loyal to Cybertron to allow him the means of rebuilding it. Because in the end, both of the officers knew what Megatron would do with the device. A new Cybertron from scratch one of his liking and his own ideals.

They couldn't allow that to happen. The seeker checked the time and then commed. Soundwave. "Drop the shields and get ready to redirect their ground bridge."__

* * *

_**The Arbiter picked up the pieces and scrutinized the backs of them. He gave a hum and scrunched his brows together. **_

_**"Well, this is interesting."**_

* * *

_ "So you're just gonna—." She was interrupted by the opening of a ground bridge. A swirl of colors and then they charged in. Magnus in the lead followed by the two wreckers and Smokescreen. The drones pointed their blasters and fired, but they always missed. One by one they went down fast. Sometimes they were able to dodge a couple of shots, but in the end they were all on the floor except one. _

_ "Stop! Don't shoot, he's got Miko," Bulkhead shouted. _

_ She wanted to tell them she was fine. That he wouldn't hurt her, but how could she do that when he brought his blaster to her head? She stared into the red barrel that could fire one shot and erase her form existence. Would he really shoot her? _

_ "Put her down, con," Wheeljack said. "And maybe we won't tear you to pieces afterwards."_

_ Alpha Niner made a small opening when he moved his gun slightly—Miko didn't know if it was on purpose or not—and then he was shot in the middle of his chest by blaster fire from Ultra Magnus. _

_ She was falling. She made to scream—_

_ "Gotcha!" She landed in Bulkhead's servo with a thud and promptly passed out in her hero's palm. _

Soundwave allowed a little more time to pass before he declared to his lord about their intruders. As expected, Megatron seethed with barely controlled rage and then ordered all soldiers to exterminate the pests that had dared to come aboard his ship. He even called for the predacons sleeping atop the ship to eradicate the intruders.

Soundwave continued to monitor the situation while still 'trying' to raise the shields once more.

0o0o0o

Ultra Magnus was about to radio for a ground bridge when he got a good look at what was in the room with them. "By the all spark," he whispered.

Bulkhead, still fussing over his unconscious charge, looked up and asked, "What is it? A bomb?"

Ultra Magnus turned to the wreckers he was leading, "No. It is a nuclear weapon capable of producing massive waves of radiation." He turned back towards the object and his optics searched for a consol. Spotting it towards the back of the room, Magnus began his search for the schematics.

"Maybe we should contact the doc," Wheeljack said just as the alarms went off. "Or better yet, let's just blow the thing up and bridge outta here."

"Cover the door," The commander said before he commed Ratchet. "Doctor, you won't believe this."

_Soundwave could not keep his Lord at bay any longer. Megatron gave a loud bellow and began storming down the halls heading towards the depths of the Nemesis. The only thing the communications officer could do was stall the elevator—so he did. _

_ But the Autobots wouldn't have much more time. Soundwave considered dropping the device along with the Autobots with it. _

When Miko dreamed, she dreamed of Tokyo. She dreamed of her family. She imagined them meeting her other family. Miko could picture the stern face of her father as he sat behind the wheel of Bulkhead as he forced her partner to play old ballads instead of the screaming rock they were both used to.

She pictured her younger brother, wide eyed and drooling on the interior leather while making a grab for the buttons at the front. Her mother would smile softly and tell her ornery daughter how proud she was—no matter that Miko had run away from all her problems at home. It didn't matter to her that Miko's grades were below par. That was just how her mother was.

No matter how wrong Miko was, her mother didn't see it. She only saw the good. If Miko missed anything it was her mother.

_Soundwave didn't wait any longer. He dropped the bottom out from under them and hoped they survived the fall. It wouldn't do if they were dead. _

"So what do we do with it?" Bulkhead asked while keeping his optics firmly on the doors. "Blow it up or something?"

Wheeljack pulled a grenade from his side and gave it a toss in the air. "I'm game. Let's blow the whole ship to the farthest side of the galaxy."

"No," Ultra Magnus said while the floor beneath him cranked. "We'll have to—." The floor heaved loudly before it gave way beneath them and they were sent spiraling down to the earth below.

_Starscream snarled at the silent con, "You've ruined everything." His long digits clenched his servos hard. "There is no way for sure that they'll survive."_

_ "Really Starscream?" Soundwave's recording of Megatron came out harsh and low causing Starscream to snarl again before turning away. They had an angry Lord to subdue and troops to find. _

_ "I just hope that Alpha drone survives, or we'll be dealing with a mob of angry drones looking for something that neither of us knows how to give." And then he left the room while Soundwave brought the shields back up. _

Miko's head began to pound and the unbearable ache woke her from her unconscious state. She gave a groan and fluttered her eyes behind her heavy lids. Her dream had just been getting good. There had been a clown on a unicycle and he had been juggling—no, he wasn't juggling. He had been . . . what had he been doing?

"Miko?" Said young woman turned towards the sound that was her name. "How are you feeling? Miko?"

"Ratchet?" Her voice was raspy and she tried to clear it before speaking again. "Ratchet, where am I?" She rubbed at her eyes as she tried to stand. Her knees buckled and she wobbled a bit, but as she was about to fall Ratchet's steady hand kept her aright.

"You're back at the military hanger," he said. "You're safe."

She shook her head, her two pig tails wiggling atop her head. "But what happened, Ratchet? Last I remember was Bulkhead shooting Al—." She stopped herself, "I just remember falling."

The Autobot doctor snorted, "Yes, you fainted. Bulkhead caught you before you hit the ground." Ratchet turned back towards his computers. "You're very lucky, young lady; if their shields hadn't malfunctioned we'd have never been able to rescue you."

"Shields?" Miko scratched at her head. "B-but what all happened?!"

Ratchet frowned, "Well, they found a weapon that the Decepticons had been working on—very serious nuclear weapon—and before they could do anymore research on the schematics the floor gave out from under them sending them and the weapon tumbling towards earth." He shot her a look, "You're fortunate Bulkhead had the sense to shove you in his cab or you'd have died for sure."

"But—but what about the drones and Cybertron!" Her eyes darted around frantically, "And the big picture and—and—and . . ." She trailed off not sure what she was trying to say.

0o0o0o

"Welcome back to the land of working parts, drone." Knockout smiled down at the emotionless facemask that was secured upon every drone. "You took a nasty tumble with a few of your friends and those Autobots, but," he gave a charming smile, "thanks to moi, you're all ready for duty once again." He stepped back, "Yes, I am just that good."

The drone stood from the examination table and saluted the doctor before leaving his doctor's care and stepping out into the hall where a line of drones were waiting. As soon as he appeared to them, they saluted. Servos placed over their sparks and posture straight and rigid.

"Welcome back, Alpha Niner, sir." They all shouted at once, and their Alpha saluted back before dismissing them all to go about their duties.

0o0o0o

Starscream and Soundwave stood motionless on either side of their lord while Shockwave stood off to the side watching from a safe distance. Megatron growled and thrashed, lost in his wrath of having lost something that had so much potential.

"How could this have happened?!" His servos clenched, his pedes pounding against the floor, and his glare pinning Starscream in place which made the seeker cower. Wings drooped submissively, sharp digits twitching, and red optics glancing at anything but his lord.

"I don't know how they could have gotten onboard, my lord." He fidgeted and shuffled ever so slightly. "And I'm not even certain how they made the flooring drop so suddenly, but—but the machine." Megatron's glare tightened and Starscream hurried to explain, "It would never work, my lord. With all of my research—earth is just too primitive a planet to have the power source we would need."

Shockwave's rolling voice cut through the explanation, "That doesn't mean that a power source from Cybertron couldn't have been obtained." He came forward with heavy steps, "I should have been involved in this work. You're irrational and illogical behavior has—."

The seeker scoffed, "It was more of an interesting pastime, Shockwave. The likelihood of it ever working is less than 15 percent and that's _with_ a proper power supply." He turned back to Megatron, "My Lord, I apologize for not informing you before hand, but I had not wished for your hopes to be raised only for failure to be the most likely outcome."

The tyrant reached out a mighty servo and clenched it around the seeker's throat cabling and squeezed tightly. "You _will_ run by everything you do with me and Soundwave from now on, dear Starscream." And then the seeker was tossed across the room where he slammed against one of the various consoles.

When the room was cleared, leaving only Starscream leaning against the consol he had been thrown against and a few drones, the seeker allowed himself to smile. "Till all are one, Autobots."

0o0o0o

"Ratchet, what did you need to speak to me about?" Optimus Prime and Ratchet stood alone in an empty hanger that housed only the giant machine that had tumbled with the wreckers.

"It's about the weapon, Optimus." Ratchet's face was solemn, "Along with it there was a data slug that had fallen."

Optimus quirked a metal ridge, "A data slug?"

"Yes, it contained something very interesting." At Optimus' motion, he continued. "It was schematics for a power source here on earth capable of stabilizing the core."

The Prime hummed, "It is a good thing, indeed, that we now have this potential weapon in our possession, Ratchet."

The doctor shook his head, "That's not all, Optimus. It also contained blue prints and instructions on how to _alter_ this thing into something—Optimus, you won't believe me."

"What is it, Ratchet?"

"It can be changed into a—a jumpstart, if you will." Ratchet's optics were hopeful, "For the core of Cybertron. For Primus, Optimus." He handed Prime the data slug, "All it needs is a Prime to connect with Primus."

0o0o0o

On board the Nemesis the drones continued their work under the watchful supervision of the Officers and of the only other drone that mattered to them.

For the good of Cybertron.

* * *

_**"What?" The girl asked. "What's the outcome?"**_

_**The Arbiter grimaced, "Well, both of your flags are in this confrontation."**_

_**The boy scratched at his head, "So what does that mean? Move back a couple of spaces or?"**_

_**"No," the Arbiter said with a rueful smile. "This is the end."**_

_**"Huh?!"**_

_**He pulled out the rules and showed them, "Two pieces of equal rank automatically negate each other. Causing the two pieces to be removed from the game."**_

_**The girl frowned, "So that means?"**_

_**"You both lost."**_

* * *

_A/N: I'm afraid that's the end. It took me forever to see if I wanted to split this into two chapters, but I didn't think I had enough to do so. And I kind of like the choppy way I did this. Multiple things happening at multiple times!_

_And the one rule: There are no winners in war. _

_Was it any good? Lemme know because I def wanna know if I bombed this or not. Helps me learn better for next time!_


End file.
